Pi 4B boots erratically

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OneDuck
 
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Pi 4B boots erratically

Post by OneDuck »

Hello,

I have a Raspberry PI 4B 2GB that I recently got from adafruit. I have been having trouble with it from the start, and originally thought it was my inexperience with Octopi. The Pi would fail to boot and would usually flash 8 fast blinks, and did the same if I completely removed the SD card. I tried the EEPROM recovery tool, and with that SD card in I would usually get two slow blinks and 4 fast blinks. I tried various SD cards, all of the SD cards boot up another PI 4b that I also purchased. In confusion I tried wiggling the SD card in the slot gently, and got the EEPROM recovery tool to work (a rapid succession of fast blinks). I tried the same trick with the SD card I have octopi installed on (a SanDisk Ultra 64GB) and it works rarely. I can't see any visible damage to the board. I had the board on my desk where it was gently treated until I put it, again gently, into a case I had 3D printed that is a low pressure snap fit without screws. It fit in snugly. I only put it into the case after I felt I had figured out the issue with it booting... turns out it hadn't and it boots less frequently now. I have looked at raspberry pi's forums on boot issues, but this doesn't seem to be covered other than if there is a bad SD card, which I know isn't the case because the 64 GB SanDisk Ultra with Octopi and a 128 GB Samsung EVO with Raspian both boot without issue on my other Pi. At this point I am not sure what could be causing it other than some type of hardware issue with the SD card slot/reader/idk.



ORDER #2498403-8704419287
ORDER DATE February 26, 2021 @ 10:51 PM

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mikeysklar
 
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Re: Pi 4B boots erratically

Post by mikeysklar »

Just curious what is the power supply you are using on this Pi 4?

This does sound like an issue around the SD card connectors so we will probably end up doing a replacement as you are in the warranty window.

Have you considered trying the boot from USB mass storage? It is a lot faster and would help determine if this is an issue with SD card enclosure on the Pi4.

https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentati ... des/msd.md

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OneDuck
 
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Re: Pi 4B boots erratically

Post by OneDuck »

I appreciate your rapid response.

I didn't mention this in my previous post, but I used an official Raspberry Pi power supply and two others of good quality and sufficient power (greater than 3 amps 5V).

I have not tried booting from USB Mass Storage... it crossed my mind but I decided to be lazy about it. I have a highly customized installation of octopi on the SD card that I was trying to use for my 3D printer and getting that to work was my main focus. I got it working with another Pi, so that's all good now and I guess I could fiddle with it and try booting from USB Mass Storage. Question, what is the reliability of booting from USB Mass Storage compared to booting from an SD card on a pi 4B?
Thanks again!

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OneDuck
 
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Re: Pi 4B boots erratically

Post by OneDuck »

Hello,

I got around to trying to boot from USB today. I did a fresh install on the USB of raspberry pi OS from the Raspberry Pi Imager. Upon trying to boot the pi from usb... I have been getting very strange behavior, fails to boot. In the beginning it was the 8 fast blinks. After a few tries, now I am getting a solid green light. I tried doing the SD-card based eeprom recovery and setting it to boot from USB primarily, after that is when I started getting the solid green light. I am getting the solid green light now even with everything except for the power cable unplugged.

RIP Pi...

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mikeysklar
 
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Re: Pi 4B boots erratically

Post by mikeysklar »

@OneDuck,

Would you like to setup a replacement of the Pi4B with us? I suspect you can still recover this unit by installing a fresh boot EEPROM using the following setup. I've found booting from USB to be many times faster (100x) with a USB SSD so I converted both of my Pi 4's to do that. Having to recover the EEPROM is unfortunately somewhat common with the Pi 4.

From the Raspberry Pi boot stick thread:

https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/view ... 28&t=58151

The recommended method to recovery the BOOT EEPROM to the factory default settings is to use the Raspberry Pi Imager.
https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/

Select Choose OS -> Misc utility images -> Pi4 EEPROM boot recovery

See the BOOT EEPROM documentation for the manual method.

https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentati ... teeprom.md

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OneDuck
 
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Re: Pi 4B boots erratically

Post by OneDuck »

Hello,

I appreciate the links and thoughts. In my previous post I attempted to indicate that I have already attempted the EEPROM recovery... a few times. I did, in fact, use the Raspberry PI Image for this. Most the time the SD card isn't read (this is what I believe to the be case since the blink pattern of 8 fast blinks is the same). After wiggling the SD card in the right way, I have managed to get it to do the fast repeating blinking that the raspberrypi.org forums indicate is a successful EEPROM recovery. I have done this about 3 times. The latest time, I chose the EEPROM recovery option within the Raspberry PI Imager selection that prioritizes the USB for boot... but it still failed to boot, even after repeated attempts. The new condition is that the RPI 4B now just gives me a solid green light. I feel I have done my part, and the PI, among other things, likely has a bad SD card connector. At this point, I just want a replacement.

My thanks,
JJ

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mikeysklar
 
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Re: Pi 4B boots erratically

Post by mikeysklar »

@JJ,

No problem. I understand as I've snapped off the SD card connector on of my own Pi 4's at one point (pulled it out of a case incorrectly).

Go ahead and e-mail [email protected] with a link to this forum thread and your original order# requesting a replacement Pi 4.

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Bob_Murphy
 
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Re: Pi 4B boots erratically

Post by Bob_Murphy »

I cannot get my new Raspberry Pi 4 to work. The power light does not turn on when I plug in the USB-C power supply. My order number is 2601568-9771198981. I ordered the Raspberry Pi 4 on July 3.
Bob Murphy

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mikeysklar
 
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Re: Pi 4B boots erratically

Post by mikeysklar »

Hi Bob,

Please start a new post with your Pi4 and describe your Power Supply, SD card and OS you have installed. We will help you troubleshoot and replace it as needed.

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Bob_Murphy
 
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Re: Pi 4B boots erratically

Post by Bob_Murphy »

Thanks for the response. The SD card and I presume operating system I bought in the original order. The power supply I am using is an Apple USB-C power supply Model A1947 rated at 5.3V/ 3 amps.

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Bob_Murphy
 
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Re: Pi 4B boots erratically

Post by Bob_Murphy »

Bob_Murphy wrote:Thanks for the response. The SD card and I the operating system I bought in the original order. The power supply I am using is an Apple USB-C power supply Model A1947 rated at 5.3V/ 3 amps.

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mikeysklar
 
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Re: Pi 4B boots erratically

Post by mikeysklar »

Bob,

We are trying to isolate the forum posts to troubelshooting for one user at a new time. I'd like you to start your own thread so we can discuss troubleshooting not tag it onto this one.

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